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IWE WrestleMania 30: Kevin McAlmond v Batista
At WrestleMania 30 on Sunday, April 6, six-time World Champion Batista returns to The Grandest Stage of Them All to challenge The Face of IWE, Kevin McAlmond, for the most prestigious title in all of sports-entertainment, the IWE World Heavyweight Championship. The championship battle will etch not only a new chapter in The Show of Shows’ already illustrious history, but also the latest development in the years-long competition between The Animal and The Viper, former Evolution cohorts. Batista punched his ticket to a WrestleMania main event in New Orleans by overcoming 29 other Superstars to win the Royal Rumble Match in January. The contest was his first match back after a nearly four-year absence from the ring. Upon returning to IWE, the always-candid Batista made his objective perfectly clear: to win the IWE World Heavyweight Title in the main event of WrestleMania 30. Although McAlmond has knowingly eyed Batista as his No. 1 contender since Royal Rumble, The Viper’s path to the main event of The Showcase of the Immortals was anything but guaranteed. To ensure his spot, McAlmond had to first survive a supremely competitive Elimination Chamber Match lineup on Feb. 23 with his championship reign intact. Thanks in part to interference by Bray Wyatt and Kane — each of whom took Dustin Simpson and Kody Brown out of the championship picture, respectively — IWE’s Apex Predator slithered out of the Chamber with the title still his. Now, The Face of IWE is set on a collision course with a Superstar who is all too familiar with his ruthless mindset. McAlmond and Batista spent their formative years together as the two junior members of Evolution — one of the most powerful factions in wrestling history, guided by Triple K and IWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair. Although they spent many months fighting side-by-side, Batista and McAlmond’s subsequent ring wars are also well documented. Batista even dethroned McAlmond to win his first IWE Championship in June 2009 – in New Orleans, no less. Both Superstars have grown by leaps and bounds since their nascent days as mere pupils of The Game and “The Nature Boy.” Despite his hiatus from the ring, Batista — newly empowered by his Jiu-Jitsu studies — has proven in his comeback to be every bit as destructive as he was years ago. Former IWE and World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio found that out the hard way at Elimination Chamber, when Batista downed him with an explosive Batista Bomb. And even though McAlmond’s merit to be called The Face of IWE has been called into question, there is no denying The Viper has found ways to hold onto the IWE World Heavyweight Title in even the direst of straits. With the unification of the IWE and World Heavyweight Titles last December, this year marks the first time in more than a decade that there has been a single World Champion at WrestleMania, adding an even greater air of grandiosity to the proceedings. Will The Viper slither out of New Orleans and continue his historic title reign? Or, will Batista complete his stated goal and stand alone as the IWE World Heavyweight Champion?